Historical figures in London
The atlas holds 249 people and 882 moments here, from 1374 to 2025. The most recorded lives are Charles Dickens, John Milton and William Blake. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Scientists, across the Space Age and the Cold War.
Notable people
Marie Curie
in 1903
1 moment here
Polish-born, naturalized-French physicist and chemist who pioneered research on radioactivity. With Pierre Curie she discovered polonium and radium.…
Mark Twain
from 1871 to 1900
4 moments here
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, journalist, lecturer, riverboat pilot, and traveler.…
Marlene Dietrich
from 1964 to 1972
2 moments here
German-American actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (Marie Magdalene Dietrich) was born in Berlin and achieved international fame through stage,…
Maurice Wilkins
from 1946 to 2004
6 moments here
New Zealand-born British physicist and biophysicist whose career ran from solid-state physics and wartime atomic research to X-ray diffraction…
Maxim Gorky
in 1907
1 moment here
Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov, known as Maxim Gorky, was a Russian and Soviet writer, journalist, publisher, and political activist.…
Max Planck
in 1946
1 moment here
German theoretical physicist and originator of quantum theory. Planck’s documented life moved from Kiel to Munich, Berlin, Kiel again, and Berlin,…
Michael Faraday
from 1791 to 1860
9 moments here
English chemist and physicist whose experimental work transformed the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.…
Michael Jackson
in 2009
1 moment here
American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist whose career began with the Jackson 5 and developed into global solo stardom.…
Mikhail Gorbachev
from 1984 to 1991
2 moments here
Soviet and Russian politician who led the Soviet Union from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991.…
Montesquieu
from 1729 to 1730
2 moments here
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French jurist, historian, and political philosopher.…
Morgan Tsvangirai
from 2009 to 2014
2 moments here
Zimbabwean trade unionist and opposition politician who led the Movement for Democratic Change and served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to…
Muhammad Ali
from 1966 to 2012
2 moments here
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.) was an American boxer, activist, humanitarian, and global cultural figure.…
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
from 1893 to 1946
5 moments here
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a barrister and political leader who led the All-India Muslim League and became Pakistan’s first governor-general after…
Muhammad Iqbal
from 1931 to 1932
2 moments here
Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) was a South Asian philosopher, poet, lawyer, and political figure.…
Muhammadu Buhari
from 2016 to 2025
6 moments here
Nigerian army officer, military head of state from 1983 to 1985, and elected president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.…
Mwai Kibaki
from 1957 to 2012
3 moments here
Kenyan economist and politician who served as Kenya’s third president from 2002 to 2013. This chronology records documented physical presence from…
Naguib Mahfouz
in 1991
1 moment here
Egyptian novelist, screenwriter, and playwright whose fiction made Cairo a central setting of modern Arabic literature.…
Nelson Mandela
from 1962 to 2000
3 moments here
South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, lawyer and statesman. Mandela helped lead the African National Congress, co-founded its armed wing,…
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
from 1964 to 1985
2 moments here
Kenyan novelist, playwright, essayist, language advocate, and academic. Ngũgĩ’s life moved from colonial Kenya through education in Uganda and…
Niels Bohr
in 1943
1 moment here
Danish theoretical physicist whose work on atomic structure and quantum theory earned the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.…
Octave Mirbeau
in 1887
1 moment here
French novelist, playwright, journalist, pamphleteer, and art critic. Mirbeau’s documented life moved between Normandy, Paris, Brittany, the French…
Olivia Hussey
from 1958 to 1966
2 moments here
British actress born in Argentina, best known for playing Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet.…
Oscar Wilde
from 1881 to 1895
13 moments here
Irish author, poet, playwright, critic, and leading figure in late nineteenth-century aestheticism.…
Otto von Bismarck
in 1862
1 moment here
Otto von Bismarck was a Prussian and German statesman, diplomat, and the first chancellor of the German Empire.…
Moments
- 1891 Residence recorded at Tite Street Oscar Wilde
- 1891 Leaves London after qualifying Mahatma Gandhi
- 1892 Marriage at All Souls Church Rudyard Kipling
- 1893 Conducting in London Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- 1893 Unveiling of her Kensington Palace statue Queen Victoria
- 1895 Imprisonment at Pentonville Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Imprisonment at Wandsworth Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Warning at the Café Royal Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Libel trial at the Old Bailey Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Preliminary hearing at Bow Street Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Conviction in London Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Processing at Newgate Prison Oscar Wilde
- 1895 Death in London Friedrich Engels
- 1895 Marriage to Amy Catherine Robbins H. G. Wells
- 1896 Teaching at the London School of Economics Bertrand Russell
- 1896 Move to Worcester Park H. G. Wells
- 1896 Returns to England after circumnavigation Mark Twain
- 1897 Lectures at King's College Ladies' Department Virginia Woolf
- 1897 Diamond Jubilee thanksgiving outside St Paul's Queen Victoria
- 1898 Study trip to London Henri Matisse
- 1898 Marriage to Charlotte Payne-Townshend George Bernard Shaw
- 1898 Arrival at Victoria Station Émile Zola
- 1898 Initial London lodging at the Grosvenor Hotel Émile Zola
- 1898 Residence at Queen's Hotel, Upper Norwood Émile Zola
- 1899 Birth at the Hitchcock family shop Alfred Hitchcock
- 1900 Guest at Dollis Hill House Mark Twain
- 1901 Judge at the first major bodybuilding contest Arthur Conan Doyle
- 1901 Makes maiden Commons speech Winston Churchill
- 1902 Meeting Lenin in London Leon Trotsky
- 1902 Worked in the British Museum Reading Room Vladimir Lenin
- 1902 Moved to London with Iskra Vladimir Lenin
- 1902 Knighthood at Buckingham Palace Arthur Conan Doyle
- 1903 Appears at the Royal Institution Marie Curie
- 1903 Second RSDLP Congress in London Vladimir Lenin
- 1903 Second RSDLP Congress Leon Trotsky
- 1904 Stop in London during exile journey James Joyce
- 1904 Settlement at Gordon Square Virginia Woolf
- 1905 Schooling at Harrow Jawaharlal Nehru
- 1905 Third RSDLP Congress in London Vladimir Lenin
- 1905 Performs at Duke of York's Theatre Charlie Chaplin
- 1906 Civil Service examinations John Maynard Keynes
- 1906 India Office clerkship John Maynard Keynes
- 1907 Howrah House Convent schooling Alfred Hitchcock
- 1907 Residence at the Red House Herbert Hoover
- 1907 Fifth RSDLP Congress Leon Trotsky
- 1907 Residence at Fitzroy Square Virginia Woolf
- 1907 Attends the Fifth RSDLP Congress in London Joseph Stalin
- 1907 Fifth RSDLP Congress in London Maxim Gorky
- 1907 Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Rosa Luxemburg